CHAPTER XI.
THE BROTHERS FLETCHER.
I now come to make mention of two gifted brothers, Giles and Phineas Fletcher, both clergymen, the sons of a clergyman and nephews to the Bishop of Bristol, therefore the cousins of Fletcher the dramatist, a poem by whom I have already given Giles, the eldest, is supposed to have been born in 1588.

From his poem _Christ's Victory and Triumph_, I select three passages.
To understand the first, it is necessary to explain that while Christ is on earth a dispute between Justice and Mercy, such as is often represented by the theologians, takes place in heaven.

We must allow the unsuitable fiction attributing distraction to the divine Unity, for the sake of the words in which Mercy overthrows the arguments of Justice.

For the poet unintentionally nullifies the symbolism of the theologian, representing Justice as defeated.

He forgets that the grandest exercise of justice is mercy.